A former general manager paid to study Metro’s problems found a cracked rail on the Red Line, learned that some of Metro’s departments wouldn’t speak to each other and noted that seven rail platforms are shored up with wood, according to a secret report made public Wednesday after pressure from congressional leaders.
“Metrorail has downhill momentum which will be difficult to stop,” the report said.
Congressional leaders who obtained a copy of the report urged the agency to release it to the public during Wednesday’s House oversight committee hearing. “We feel strongly that the public has a right to know,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
He said the committee intended to release the full report and urged the agency to give its blessing. Metro board Chairman Peter Benjamin initially demurred, saying the board did not support all of its recommendations, but Metro released the report in the afternoon.
The report, which cost more than $20,000, from former General Manager David Gunn, commissioned by the transit agency, was presented orally to Metro’s directors behind closed doors last month. Metro initially released a partial summary but declined to let the public listen to the presentation or release the full slide presentation that accompanied it.
During his two-week tour of the system, Gunn reportedly found a cracked rail at Friendship Heights and witnessed one of two derailments that occurred. His presentation shows that Metro’s information technology staff increased from 18 to 85 workers since 2004 — not including an additional 19 consultants. Yet he said Metro overall has had a “staggering loss of talent.”
The report says the railcars can’t meet service needs and have poor reliability. It also said the agency’s reputation has been so damaged that it will affect its ability to recruit a permanent general manager. Furthermore, Gunn urged the agency not to “kill the messenger” on bad news, and told them “to come clean” with the region.
The issue over the report’s secrecy highlighted the communication problems at Metro, which were discussed in the latest congressional inquiry into the agency. Metro has been under scrutiny after high-profile and deadly safety problems that have occurred since the June 22 train crash that killed nine people.
The communication problems extended within the agency, not just with the public, according to testimony. Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff noted that he learned some departments had such “bad blood” among them that it created what he called a “dangerous” situation. He said Metro’s subsequent record of eight workers killed on the job since 2005 “grotesquely violates” safety standards.
New interim General Manager Richard Sarles presented a six-month action plan of how to address the safety problems and budget crisis. But some were frustrated by the pace of change. “Where are we almost a year later? What action have we taken?” asked D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. The Democrat said she had “nothing good to say about the progress made.”
